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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2013

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Volume 13 Issue 34

Santa Monica Daily Press

APPLE TAKES BITE OUT OF CHINA SEE PAGE 6

We have you covered

THE STAYING UP LATE FOR SANTA ISSUE

Holiday gifting can be vexing for children of divorced parents LEANNE ITALIE Associated Press

NEW YORK Tomi Tuel remembers a particularly vexing Christmas after her divorce. Her two kids received an Xbox as a gift and hauled it from home to home when it came time to visit their dad.

“It was a complete hassle,” she said. “All the cords got unplugged and rolled up and transported along with the

games. Of course parts would be left or games wanted would be left behind.”

So the siblings took matters into their own hands, working and saving enough in Christmas and birthday money to buy a second one, said the Folsom, Calif., mom.

Divorce can be challenging at the holidays under the most amicable of circumstances, and gifts sometimes add another layer of frustration — for young and old.

Edwin Lyngar in Reno, Nev., has two kids from his first

marriage. From his second he has two more kids and one stepson. Usually, he and his ex coordinate gifts for their two, but he recalls an unauthorized electric piano one year when his daughter, now 13, was about 5.

“Because I have primary custody, all of the presents end up at my house, and there are some really heinous things that I wish could stay.” Stay at his ex’s house, that is. “They’re SEE GIFTS PAGE 9

Speed, calamity in December 1913

BY DAVID MARK SIMPSON Daily Press Staff Writer

IN THE HISTORY BOOKS Next time you bottom out on Colorado Avenue, think back with sympathy to your 1913 predecessors.

One hundred years ago this month, four passengers were thrown from a Hupmobile when they hit a “chuck hole” caused by rail construction on Santa Monica Boulevard at Seventh Street.

Expo Light Rail just laid the first Santa Monica train tracks in decades this month, but in December 1913, they had to rip out the rails of the newly installed Pacific Electric line because they were a sixteenth of an inch too large.

Only the driver managed to stay in the vehicle as they “plunged into the excavation made by the Pacific Electric,” according to the Los Angeles Times archives.

Everyone lived, but the Hupmobile was a goner.

Cars and speed and sometimes danger topped many a Santa Monica headline in December of 1913.

Vanderbilt Cup, the first major championship in car racing, founded in 1904, signed a contract to hold the following year’s event on the “world-famous” Santa Monica street course, according to L.A. Times archives. It was a huge score for the city by the sea and half a dozen articles were dedicated to the big race.

Meanwhile, two councilmen-elect had a race of their own, and not of the political kind. They were visiting a spa out near San Jacinto when they realized, a little after noon, that they had to be sworn in by midSEE HISTORY PAGE 7

Paul Alvarez Jr. editor@smdp.com

PITCHING IN: Leah Dietrich (left) volunteered during an event to feed the homeless hosted by Honda Motors at the Civic Auditorium on Friday.

Christmas just another day for homeless

BY DAVID MARK SIMPSON Daily Press Staff Writer

CITYWIDE For Kenneth Callahan, Christmas just means sleeping next to a dumpster in the cold instead of sleeping next to a dumpster in the heat.

Charlene Spurlock says it brings homeless people together.

Another homeless man said it draws attention to his loneliness.

Practically speaking, it marks the end of the roughly six-week stretch, starting before Thanksgiving, during which more people

donate time and money than at any other point in the year.

“I eat more this time of year than I did when I was a kid. There’s lots of food,” said Callahan, who’s been living on the streets for the past 13 months. “I'm numb to this time of year because I didn't really have that much structure in my family.”

Kait Peters, development director at OPCC, a Santa Monicabased homeless services provider, said the overwhelming support is a positive thing, acknowledging that it slows down after the holi-

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What’s Up

Westside OUT AND ABOUT IN SANTA MONICA

Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2013

Thursday, Dec. 26, 2013

Art for kids Paint:Lab 1453 14th St., 9 a.m.

Kids 5-12 are invited to a special winter art camp. Cost: ranges from $55-$100. All art materials included in the price. For more information, call (310) 450-9200.

Take a tour Annenberg Community Beach House 415 PCH, 11 a.m.

Explore the rich Beach House site history with a Santa Monica Conservancy docent. Tours are free, and last roughly 30 minutes.

For more information, call (310) 458-4904.

Pictures with Santa Santa Monica Place Third Street and Broadway 11 a.m. — 8 p.m.

Santa will be available for photos and visits at his winter wonderland house, located in Center Plaza. For more information, call (310) 2608333.

Story time Fairview Library 2101 Ocean Park Blvd., 11 a.m. — 11:20 a.m.

Story series for babies ages 0-17 months accompanied by an adult.

Call (310) 458-8681 for more information.

Friday, Dec. 27, 2013 Musical guy Miles Memorial Playhouse 1130 Lincoln Blvd., 7 p.m.

Creating Arts Co. presents “The Music Man.” Smooth talking salesman “Professor” Harold Hill has everyone fooled — and the citizens of River City, Iowa are his latest prey. When local librarian Marian Paroo tries to expose him as a fake, Hill sets out to win her heart and save his hide. For more information, call (310) 804-0223.

Saturday, Dec. 28, 2013 Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2013 Hit the ice Fifth Street and Arizona Avenue 10 a.m. — 10 p.m.

Hit the rink at ICE at Santa Monica, a popular holiday attraction. For more information, call (310) 4618333.

He is real Miles Memorial Playhouse 1130 Lincoln Blvd., 3 p.m.

Creating Arts Company presents a holiday classic that is sure to put a smile on even the Scrooges of the season. Based on actual events, “Yes, Virginia” follows 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon on a journey to discover if Santa Claus is real. She decides to write a letter to the editor of the Chicago Sun to find out the truth. For more information, call (310) 804-0223.

To create your own listing, log on to smdp.com/submitevent For help, contact Daniel Archuleta at 310-458-7737 or submit to editor@smdp.com For more information on any of the events listed, log on to smdp.com/communitylistings

CORRECTION TIn the article regarding the contamination scare at Malibu High and Middle schools that appeared in the Dec. 21-22 edition of the Daily Press, the headline was incorrect. No schools were closed, only classrooms. It looks like we need to go back to school.

Inside Scoop TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2013

Visit us online at www.smdp.com

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COMMUNITY BRIEFS PUBLIC SAFETY FACILITY

3 arrested in DUI checkpoint Three people were arrested Friday or early Saturday for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, Santa Monica police announced.

Two were arrested for drugs while one was busted for drinking and driving when they passed through a DUI/driver’s license checkpoint held by the Santa Monica Police Department along the 2800 block of Wilshire Boulevard from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m.

Ten citations were also issued for traffic-related offenses, said SMPD Sgt. Jay Moroso.

The checkpoint involved 23 sworn and non-sworn personnel from the Special Enforcement and Operations divisions.

“A large impact in impaired driving was made obvious by the number of rideshare and taxi vehicles that came through with occupants pointing out that they wouldn’t take the risk given our presence and location,” Moroso said.

Just under 1,400 vehicles passed through the checkpoint, 434 drivers were screened and 48 sobriety tests were administered.

— KEVIN HERRERA

COUNTYWIDE

County gets credit rating upgrade Los Angeles County received an upgrade in its longterm credit rating from Standard & Poor’s Rating Service, raising the county’s rating from AA to AA-plus, the highest credit rating ever assigned to the county by S&P, officials said.

The rating was given because of the county’s strong general fund reserves, strong management practices and budgetary flexibility, and also spotlights the county’s status as one of the premier municipal debt issuers in the nation, officials said.

The higher credit rating means the county can expect to secure lower interest rates to finance its long-term capital needs, providing additional resources to fund other critical programs and services.

“I cannot overstate the importance of our solid financial position in Los Angeles County. This is our second ratings increase in 14 months, and it’s a direct result of the fiscal discipline of our department heads and the commitment of each of our employees,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Don Knabe. “This ratings upgrade will allow us to finance improvements at a much lower cost. In some cities, they can’t even fill the potholes and pave the streets. At the county, we continue to invest in our infrastructure, knowing that investments today will benefit our neighborhoods for decades to come.”

— DAILY PRESS

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HOLIDAY MEMORIES

Daniel Archuleta daniela@smdp.com A family poses for pictures in front of the Third Street Promenade's Christmas tree on Monday afternoon.

Death Valley puts brakes on running, cycling races JOHN ROGERS Associated Press

LOS ANGELES The Badwater 135, a sweat-lathered, endurance race that runs through the hottest place in the world in the middle of the summer will be taking a detour in 2014 after Death Valley National Park placed a moratorium on cycling and running competitions until it can determine how safe they are.

No timetable was given for the park’s safety study, which was announced in a brief notice on Death Valley’s website.

“We want to make it clear, we’re not canceling or banning any events,” Death Valley spokeswoman Cheryl Chipman said Monday. “At the moment we’re just not taking any more applications for them until we finish our safety evaluation.”

One event already scheduled will be allowed to go on as planned, she said.

Chris Kostman, whose AdventureCorps sponsors the Badwater 135 and several other endurance competitions in

the sprawling desert park each year, said he’s had to reschedule and move several of them for 2014. He questioned the need for a safety review, adding his organization has held 89 events in the park since 1990 without a serious incident.

“There have been no deaths, no car crashes, no citations issued, and only a few evacuations by ambulance after literally millions of miles covered on foot or by bike by event participants,” he said in an email to supporters.

The Badwater 135 is perhaps the best known of AdventureCorps endurance events. It’s a 135-mile run that begins in Death Valley’s Badwater Basin, which at 282 feet below sea level is the lowest point in North America.

It continues across a barren desert where summer temperatures can top 130 degrees, going on to take runners across three mountain ranges. It finally ends near the 8,300foot level of Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the Lower 48 states.

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Opinion Commentary 4

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2013

We have you covered

Our Town

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Ellen Brennan

Send comments to editor@smdp.com

One-party system Editor:

This letter is in response to Ken Robin’s letter dated Dec. 23, 2013 (“Poor parking structure planning”). Mr. Robin, your comments about the parking structure’s lack of bathrooms is sound, your perception is clear and your complaint is valid. You have touched upon the great failure of special interest, single-party municipal government.

Lack of independent vision of six of our seven City Councilmembers is not only traditional, but the standard way of doing business. You see, sir, the six take their marching orders from the Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights (SMRR) power structure, known for the last 35 years to have no vision, rather a wanted, clearly stated, single agenda — build low-income housing so their voting stock can enjoy reduced rent. Come election day every two years those who do vote elect those SMRR candidates who promise to continue having their constituents enjoy subsidized rental housing. This, Mr. Robin, is the standard Soviet model going back to the 1950s.

We Americans, thank God, have a natural and orderly mechanism for controlling our elected officials. This is called the election process. Your frustration, sir, is my frustration. This lack of vision can been seen throughout the city: a light rail station with no parking; $43 million for a park built with zero underground parking; hundreds of millions of our redevelopment funds to build low-income housing; a failure to take care of our seniors, schools, residents, traffic, parking, police and fire.

These acts and policy choices that my opponents, the SMRR elected officials, promote ensure that they get reelected every two years in order to build more low-income housing. The time has come for the voters of Santa Monica to take back their city and send the six SMRR City Council members walking.

SMRR elected officials are ill equipped and clearly unable to solve these problems because they are beholden to SMRR. Mr. Robin, your comments are falling upon friendly ears. Happy holidays and all the best in 2014.

Robert Kronovet Santa Monica

Send comments to editor@smdp.com

PUBLISHER

Brown ‘hella’ regretful about San Fran’s planning missteps

MANAGING EDITOR

WILLIE BROWN, ELECTED MAYOR OF

daniela@smdp.com

Ross Furukawa ross@smdp.com

EDITOR IN CHIEF Kevin Herrera editor@smdp.com

Daniel Archuleta

San Francisco for eight years, recently apologized in his column to the residents of the city for the mistakes he made while mayor.

He wrote: “Yes, we clearly need a lot more money for our public transit system, particularly since our clogged streets are making San Francisco almost unlivable.

“But I’d like to add a couple of practical yet politically incorrect thoughts that you won’t find in any City Hall report. For instance, the years-long campaign to make it nearly impossible to build garages is causing probably 30 percent of the traffic problem — those being all the drivers looking for a parking spot.

“And for all of you transit-first folks who pushed to ban parking in buildings so people would be ‘encouraged’ to take a bus, I say: Good luck finding a seat.”

Brown has lived to see the negative results and I take his words as a warning. There are several issues here: clogged streets making the city unlivable; not building enough parking has increased traffic as drivers drive around looking for parking; and buses being overloaded.

The idea of not building enough parking has become the new developer religion — not because it’s efficient, but because it saves huge sums of money. And since our town is gridlocked already, the “green” idea that “if you don’t build parking they won’t drive” sounds like a solution. Brown didn’t see it as a solution in San Francisco.

Here we’re charged with running the Santa Monica Pier for the benefit of the region. Some people take that seriously.

There is not enough parking for the pier, but since there’s no light rail from West Covina, or Glendale, or Chatsworth or Pacoima or Eagle Rock to Santa Monica, they will continue to come by car, ending up in great frustration, helping cause summer and weekend gridlock as they look for parking for the pier.

The schizophrenia in Santa Monica politics is amazing. City Hall wants to attract people to Santa Monica, but not in cars, the preferred mode of transportation for many, especially families. City Hall and the developers will cram as much development into the city as possible, to maximize profit and tax revenues. But gridlock is a problem and cars are against the religion of the greens.

The Bergamot Area Plan was to create a self-contained neighborhood where people could live and work within a neighborhood where cars were unnecessary. The Hines project upsets that whole plan. It was supposed to be primarily housing, but because commercial is more profitable their focus on commercial and their high rents will destroy the whole rationale for the area.

The drive to save the planet by making it tough for cars is another problem. Brown didn’t find it working in San Francisco. The huge projects proposed in the Bergamot area and the greens’ wants cancel each other out.

Unfortunately, neither group is in control of human behavior. People keep driving because they need to work and live and enjoy as they choose. They’ll take transit and

walk and bike if it fits their lives. They’ll drive if it doesn’t.

Regarding attracting tourists to Santa Monica (to fill all the many new hotels that pay City Hall 14 percent of their gross): People who travel don’t usually travel to shop. They travel for pleasure, for experiencing something or some place that is unique and pleasurable. The City Council is allowing developers to cram the city full of the ordinary, the too big, too massive, and too traffic bearing, because both the developers and council want the money. Neither group is willing to hear the residents, who want a livable city. The people who win in the short term are the lawyers.

About standing room on buses, the Big Blue Line 3 has a standing-room-only problem south of Downtown on its way to LAX and back. So does the popular MTA 720 Rapid from Santa Monica down Wilshire to downtown Los Angeles. Although this is an articulated bus, and it runs often, all seats are usually filled by the time the bus reaches 26th Street and riders often stand for most of the trip — an hour-and-a-half ride. The light rail will not affect this. Their paths diverge.

The Los Angeles Department of Traffic (LADOT) wrote comments to the Bergamot Village Transit Center (Hines project) Draft Environmental Impact Report requesting mitigation action at nine traffic signals under the jurisdiction of L.A. and three under joint jurisdiction. Those intersections were: Walgrove at Rose and Venice; Centinela at Colorado/Idaho; Centinela (west) at Olympic; Centinela and Interstate 10 westbound ramp; Bundy at Olympic, Pico, Ocean Park, and National; Barrington at Wilshire, Santa Monica Blvd., and Olympic.

The report stated that these locations are currently operating at or near capacity, and as development continues to unfold in Santa Monica, “additional approvals will continue to denigrate these intersections in a significant cumulative fashion.”

Its final recommendation is: “In the absence of appropriate redress to the stated probable significant traffic impacts within the city of Los Angeles, the project should be directed to remove these impacts through either a scaled reduction or land-use reconfiguration of this project.”

There has been no appropriate redress.

Instead, City Hall informed LADOT that they had no jurisdiction. That might have addressed a legal problem, but it did nothing to reduce the traffic impact of the Hines project, which will make the area almost unlivable.

The developers don’t care. City Hall doesn’t care, but we residents do care, and we need to put a stop to this insanity.

ELLEN BRENNAN, a former stockbroker and 19year Santa Monica resident, authored this column, with input from resident Tricia Crane and members of the Our Town group, who can be reached at ourtownsantamonica@gmail.com.

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OPINIONS EXPRESSED are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of the Santa Monica Daily Press staff. Guest editorials from residents are encouraged, as are letters to the editor. Letters will be published on a space-available basis. It is our intention to publish all letters we receive, except those that are libelous or are unsigned. Preference will be given to those that are e-mailed to editor@smdp.com. All letters must include the author’s name and telephone number for purposes of verification. All letters and guest editorials are subject to editing for space and content.

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2013

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Your column here Dr. E. Kirsten Peters

Send comments to editor@smdp.com

New medication may help people stay sober ALCOHOLISM RUNS IN PART OF MY

DR. E. KIRSTEN PETERS, a native of the rural Northwest, was trained as a geologist at Princeton and Harvard. This column is a service of the College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences at Washington State University.

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useful to people with alcoholism who are trying to stay dry because it helps lessen some of the withdrawal symptoms people often encounter when they stop drinking.

“Gabapentin improved sleep and mood in people who were cutting down or quitting drinking,” Mason told NPR. Feelings of anxiety and losing sleep are often experiences that drive people to start drinking again, she said.

One good thing about gabapentin compared to some other medications is that it isn’t processed by the liver. That’s important because the livers of people with alcoholism are often damaged from years of drinking.

Gabapentin moves from the stomach to the blood to the kidneys and finally into the urine, all mostly unchanged.

But there is still a long road to travel before gabapentin is considered by the Food and Drug Administration as a possible treatment for alcoholism. And even if the FDA took action today to approve gabapentin for such use, people who suffer from alcoholism would still have a tough row to hoe.

“It’s not magic,” Mason said. “And making big behavior changes is hard work.”

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family. I lost a grandfather to it, and a couple of others in the family have been affected by it to greater or lesser degrees. Perhaps something like that is true for you, or maybe you have a friend or coworker who wrestles with the malady.

This is a challenging time of year for alcoholics trying to stay sober. New Year’s Eve alone can be a real test.

But medical researchers are investigating new ways that doctors may be able to help people not drink. One method, recently written up by NPR’s “Shots” website, is a medication called gabapentin. Gabapentin — the generic equivalent of the brand name drug Neurontin — has been used for years to treat a variety of ailments ranging from epilepsy to bipolar disease to fibromyalgia.

Recently researchers at the National Institutes of Health did a study of gabapentin and its effects on people with alcoholism. They enrolled 150 people in a 12-week experiment. Everyone who signed up to be part of the study got counseling.

Some of the people in the study were given placebos, while others received either 900 or 1,800 milligrams of gabapentin daily.

The people taking the 1,800 milligram dose of the drug drank nothing during the study four times as often as the placebo group. And, if they did drink, they were more likely to refrain from heavy drinking.

In other words, it looks like gabapentin helped, results that were recently published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Dr. Barbara J. Mason was the leader of the research effort. She thinks that gabapentin is

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City Hall has theoretically left millions of dollars on the table by subsidizing artists’ studios at the Santa Monica Airport. A Daily Press report found that a lease negotiated by city officials included a base rent of 37 cents per month, per square foot. That lease now generates $9,885 a month.

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Apple lands elusive iPhone deal with China Mobile JOE MCDONALD MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Business Writers

SAN FRANCISCO A long-sought deal to sell the iPhone through China Mobile should enable Apple to boost its profits and build customer loyalty in an important, growing market.

China Mobile, the world’s largest wireless carrier, boasts more than 750 million mobile accounts, an audience that had been mostly walled off from the iPhone until Apple and China Mobile hammered out a multi-year sales agreement after years of thorny negotiations. The companies announced the deal Sunday (Monday in China).

Analysts doubt the China Mobile breakthrough will prompt Apple Inc. to introduce an extremely cheap iPhone as the Cupertino, Calif., company clings to a higher standard of quality. That approach is likely to ensure that smartphones running Google’s Android software remain the top-selling devices in China.

Even so, investors are pleased to see Apple fill a gaping hole in the iPhone’s sales network. Apple’s stock rose more than 3 percent Monday, propelled by analysts projecting that the China Mobile deal could lift iPhone sales and Apple’s earnings by more than 10 percent next year.

But even with China Mobile Ltd.’s vast state-owned network, marketing power and massive customer base, the iPhone still faces significant hurdles in the world’s most populous nation.

Apple’s smartphone is already available in China through two smaller carriers, China Telecom, and China Unicom. Although it is popular with well-heeled Chinese consumers, the iPhone is losing market share to lower-priced smartphones from Samsung and local brands. Most of the less expensive iPhone rivals rely on Android, which Google Inc. launched five years ago as an alternative to Apple’s then-dominant smartphone.

Now, more than 80 percent of the smartphones sold around the world run Android, compared with 13 percent for the iPhone, according to the research firm International Data Corp.

That pecking order isn’t likely to change, even if analysts prove correct in their predictions that the China Mobile deal will help Apple sell anywhere from 10 million to 40 million iPhones next year. Those numbers should help Apple increase its iPhone sales volume from 150 million devices in its last fiscal year, but it won’t make that much of dent in overall market share. More than 1 billion smartphones were sold in 2013 alone, including 528 million in Asia, according to IDC. “China Mobile and Apple working together isn’t fundamentally going to be a game changer in the smartphone market,” said Forrester Research analyst Frank Gillett.

In September, Apple did introduce a lower-priced iPhone called the 5C, but it’s only $100 cheaper than the high-end 5S. Apple and China Mobile didn’t announce pricing or the terms of their agreement. The average price of iPhones in Apple’s most recent quarter stood at $577, which is likely to be more expensive than most Chinese consumers can afford.

Although Apple might eventually introduce a slightly lower priced iPhone designed especially for the Chinese market, Gillett said the company “is never going to go chas-

ing the bottom of the barrel.”

The iPhone 5S and 5C will go on sale in Apple and China Mobile stores beginning Friday, Jan. 17. China Mobile customers can register for phones starting Wednesday.

There are still plenty of higher-income China Mobile customers that have been pining for the iPhone, especially the 5S in a gold-plated color that is considered a sign of prestige in China. A key issue is whether it leads to additional sales or only prompts existing iPhone owners to switch to China Mobile.

The timing of the China Mobile deal is ideally set for a surge in iPhone sales. The release will come just two weeks before China’s Lunar New Year holiday at the end of January, a big gift-buying season.

But any lift that Apple gets by becoming China Mobile’s new luxury phone could quickly fade, said another Canalys analyst, James Wang.

“We expect this advantage can only last three months and Samsung will bring out its next flagship model soon,” he said.

Samsung also caters to less-affluent households in China by selling its line of smartphones through a mix of carriers with prices as low as 1,000 yuan ($150). Other smartphone makers, including Huawei and Xiaomi, also sell cheap smartphones in China.

Apple has been selling the iPhone primarily through China Mobile rivals China Telecom Ltd. and China Unicom Ltd., which have more than 450 million accountholders combined. China Unicom pays 2,500 yuan ($410) of the iPhone’s 5,499 yuan ($900) cost in exchange for a customer signing a two-year contract to pay a minimum of 186 yuan ($30) per month.

Analysts believe China Mobile will have to match those terms to achieve significant sales.

The existing sales channels haven’t been enough to prevent Apple’s market share in China from slipping. Apple’s share of China’s smartphone sales declined to 6 percent in the third quarter from 8 percent a year earlier, according to research firm Canalys. Meanwhile, Samsung’s share expanded from 14 percent to 21 percent.

About 50 million iPhones have been sold in China in the past 2 1/2 years, according to analyst estimates. That translates to about 15 percent of the nearly 313 million iPhones that Apple sold during that span.

Apple CEO Tim Cook sees much bigger things to come. Earlier this year, he told the official Xinhua News Agency in January that he expects China to surpass the United States as the iPhone’s biggest market.

Apple’s stock rose $18.18, or 3.3 percent, to $567.20 in afternoon trading Monday.

Bringing China Mobile on board took Apple years to pull off. The talks between the two companies began in 2009, China Mobile President Li Yue said last year.

Apple’s negotiating position likely improved as China Mobile’s subscriber growth slowed and gave the carrier more incentive to add the iPhone to its lineup, Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Brian White wrote in a Monday research note.

“This has been the most difficult carrier agreement for Apple to negotiate in its history,” Write said. “However, we believe the opportunity for the iPhone to expand its reach within China Mobile’s wireless subscriber base will prove to be well worth the wait.”

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HOMELESS FROM PAGE 1 days.

“What's different is that more people are aware that everybody is not as fortunate,” she said. “OPCC is really fortunate to benefit from the outpouring of generosity from our supporters.”

The summers are slower, she said, with regular volunteers taking vacations. But the holidays sometimes translate to more yearround volunteers she said.

“We wish that we could accommodate everybody that contacts us during November and December,” she said. “We tell them to get back in touch on the first of the year. We love that so many people are willing to volunteer.”

The amount of food stays the same, she said, but the tone is more cheery.

“We notice that people take an extra special effort to make it a festive gathering,” Peters said. “There's extra decorations and people will donate things for gift bags for those staying at our shelters.”

There are holiday parties for the homeless, too, she said, like one at the Civic Auditorium hosted by Honda dealers of Southern California last week.

Hundreds of homeless gathered outside on the sidewalk waiting for the doors to open.

HISTORY FROM PAGE 1 night or they’d be disqualified. Meanwhile, the city clerk was out at a ranch in Rialto.

“Speed laws in two counties and a score of towns were broken,” according to the L.A. Times archives, as both parties raced to the beach.

The councilmen sped into town at 5:15 p.m., their car “smoking from the long, hard drive of 100 miles over some rough roads,” the archive said. The city clerk showed up two hours later and the men’s jobs were saved.

All this obsession with speed was not without victims. On the Speedway, nicknamed “death trap,” a 10-year-old boy was struck by a speeding driver. He lived, but lost his front teeth, just five days before Christmas.

A woman was thrown from a motorcycle and smashed into a building. The man driving the bike was thrown 20 feet, but got up, seemingly unhurt, and hailed a passing car. He scooped up the woman, who was unconscious and bleeding from the ear. He placed her in the car and they drove away. Police couldn’t find either victim in the local hospital.

STUDIO FIRE

A film studio burned, causing $10,000 worth of damage. A cigarette or match was thrown into a storeroom full of smoke bombs, grenades, 100 rifles, hundreds of rounds of blank cartridges, and two kegs of gunpowder.

Actors depicting cowboys and Indians fought the flames and dodged whizzing bullets, according to the Times archives.

As seems to always be the case in these slapstick malfunctions of the early 1900s, no one was seriously injured.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2013

7

Spurlock, wearing a donated red coat and green shirt, spontaneously broke into “Silent Night.” She sounded like Elvis. None of her fellow homeless joined her, but she sang on.

“It’s beautiful around Christmas time,” Spurlock said. “We love each other. We come together.”

She echoed Peters’ assertion that decorations and volunteers are more plentiful this time of year.

“It’s a lot of festive events,” she said.

“Between now and March it’s called holiday depression. There’s more suicides and people are depressed. For those that don’t have any families, we still reach out to one another. That’s what it’s all about.”

She plans to spend Christmas day with her homeless friends, she said. She has a cell phone and will call her family in Illinois.

For Callahan, one thing makes this time of year stand out more than any other.

“It's the weather, like being caught in the rain,” he said. “It's kind of miserable if you don't have a place.”

A man nearby with a radio strapped to his bike said he’d been living on the streets for eight years.

“What can you do?” he said. “It’s another day that you do what you do. I’ll be out there surviving.” dave@smdp.com

YE OLDE CRIME WATCH

• Just four days before Christmas, someone nabbed a local woman’s stockings from her clothesline and replaced them with a “begrimed” pair.

• A cowboy actor was arrested after he pulled a .45 on his landlord when asked for the rent.

• The oldest officer on the police force lost his badge after a drunken bar brawl.

• A “genteel, sleek-appearing” bandit “masked with an immaculate linen handkerchief ” robbed the Nash family in their home, according to the L.A. Times archives. He got $8, which they said was all they had.

“To show you that I am a gentleman I will believe you and depart with this money,” he told the family.

Next he tried, unsuccessfully, to rob a local film studio before stealing a car and leaving town.

A few days later, Mr. Nash got letters from the bandit “full of banter and humorous raillery at the efforts to catch him.”

In one letter he offered a reward for himself.

“I let you off easy,” he said in another.

“Next time I will take the carpets.”

BLUFFS

A Santa Monica woman dared her male companion to climb down an 80-foot bluff.

When he refused, she said she would do it. He thought it was a bluff, according to the Times archive, but she slipped over the edge and screamed as she grasped hold of a “projection.” He pulled her up to safety by her dress.

A bison was not so lucky. The bison, used in films by the same studio that suffered the aforementioned wacky prop room fire, slipped off the edge of a bluff and died.

Brought in from Texas for show business, the bison was estimated to be 50 years old. dave@smdp.com

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2013

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GIFTS FROM PAGE 1 loud or annoying, but we try.”

Whether gift goofs are accidental or on purpose, a little planning can go a long way, said family law attorney Alan Plevy in suburban Washington, D.C. At the top of his wish list for such families: Avoid gifting competition.

“The recession has made it difficult for some. Suddenly a task shared by two now falls on each parent. Work together so one parent doesn’t ‘outgift’ the other,” Plevy said.

And if a child gets a long-wanted treasure, don’t put limits on it, “such as ‘I gave you this gift so you can only use it at my house.’ Children value peace over presents and they don’t care about which parent gives them the most or the biggest gifts,” he said.

Plevy’s law partner, Kathryn Dickerson, said pleasing the kids come gift time without considering the ex can make a painful situation worse.

“The children show up at the custodial parent’s house, where they’re living most of the time, with a puppy,” she said. If that parent had wanted a puppy, she says, “they would have gotten one.”

Jeff Goldberg has been divorced for about seven years and has three kids — 11-year-old twins and a 12-year-old. The subject of where their gifts live has come up with his ex, said the Long Beach, N.Y., dad.

“I have a smaller house than she does so I like to get everything out of here,” Goldberg said. “However, whenever we show up with anything, whether it’s the holidays or not, it’s like, ‘Oh no, take that back home. If you bought it, it’s staying with you.’”

For Goldberg, who has one spare room for all three kids, it’s a matter of storage. “I’m kind of a neat freak so if I can’t put it away

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2013

9

somewhere, I’d rather not have it,” he said.

Things have slowly worked themselves out, though, and now he realizes that having more stuff for the kids to call their own at his place gives them something to look forward to when they visit, usually every other weekend.

Tuel’s kids are now 17 and 21 and estranged from their father, but when regular visits were a part of their lives, “My general rule was if it could fit in the car they could take it.”

At the holidays, especially, there was no way around the stress of moving the kids and their stuff from house to house, she said.

Tuel said the kids came to her for Christmas Eve and her former husband picked them up Christmas Day, with a gift haul at each location.

“I used to make them make a checklist to take with them and stuff it in their backpacks so they would remember to gather everything they took,” she said. A lot of toys would get lost and misplaced, she said.

Lyngar has been divorced for 10 years and called the holiday for his kids a “cluster Christmas,” also involving separate gift hauls and sometimes rides on airplanes. Because his ex now lives in a faraway state, leaving treasured gifts behind would mean his 13year-old daughter might not see them for months.

For his two youngest, ages 4 and 6, Christmas comes twice — this year on Dec. 14 first, before older siblings head out for other family visits and commitments, then again on Christmas Day. “It’s just a huge chess game,” he said. “You have people moving in and moving out. You try to have one day when everyone’s together. Whether it’s two weeks before or two weeks after, it doesn’t matter. That’s Christmas.”

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House foe of health overhaul still top Republican target LAURIE KELLMAN Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Listen carefully when Republicans say they can blame almost every House Democrat for the flaws of the health care overhaul. Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-N.C., is the exception.

He’s never voted in favor of President Barack Obama’s signature health care law.

It’s a key reason the nine-term Democrat is still in Congress. It might be enough in 2014, although he barely won last year. In a district redrawn by Republicans for Republicans, McIntyre is the GOP’s top Democratic target in the battle for control of the House.

Instead of Obama at the top of the ticket as he was in 2012, the state’s marquee race next year is Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan’s battle for re-election.

“And that’s going to be all about Obamacare,” said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C. “It’s going to take a tremendous amount of money to go out and try to convince Republicans (that) any Democrat in Washington is helpful as it relates to eliminating the Affordable Care Act.” If Burr is right, then the political perils of “Obamacare” are so potent that there is no immunity for any lawmaker of the president’s party, even for Democrats like McIntyre and recently, Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, who have voted for its repeal. Each man squeaked to re-election in 2012 by a few hundred votes.

Last week, Matheson announced he will not run for re-election. That leaves McIntyre as the only survivor among conservative House Democrats seeking re-election in 2014 who can say he told us so about the national health care law. His biggest problem may be that he remains a member of the president’s party.

“In the South, Obamacare is not the only issue. They have very strong feelings about the president,” said Robert Blendon, professor of health policy and political analysis at the Harvard School of Public Health. “There are questions about his (Obama’s) honesty and integrity...There’s a growing antagonism toward the president. That’s going to be the toughest thing for him (McIntyre) to escape.”

Voters hold Obama in low regard in increasingly personal terms following the disastrous rollout of the web site for enrolling for insurance coverage.

Democrats, even Obama’s allies, have publicly said they’ll deal more cautiously with him now. Americans view Obama similarly: A clear majority of adults, 56 percent, say “honest” does not describe Obama well, according to The Associated Press-GfK poll.

That’s worse than his 52 percent rating in an October poll.

Promising Americans they could keep their health insurance only to see 4.2 million policies canceled under the law may have reversed political gains Democrats thought they had made from the government shutdown, for which the nation largely blamed Republicans. Now, many Democrats see the 2014 election as less about gaining the 17 House seats the party needs to win the

majority. It’s more about not losing the seats they have.

McIntyre’s is among the most vulnerable.

That’s why the 57-year-old scion of a prominent Lumberton, N.C., family is quick to list his conservative bona fides, starting with his opposition to the president’s health care law. McIntyre, a lawyer, said his impression back in 2009 was that the law would place too much of a burden on doctors and hospitals. Recent layoffs at two area hospitals vindicate the position, he says.

Were it not for his opposition to the health care overhaul, McIntyre might well be back in private practice right now. He acknowledges that possibility — in 2012, McIntyre bested GOP rival David Rouzer by only 654 votes, the closest margin of any House race in the nation. Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney defeated Obama in McIntyre’s district by 19 percentage points.

The health care law, McIntyre said, was “a litmus test for some people and for others it was other things” that helped them decide how to vote. Preserving jobs in his district was his top concern at the time, he added.

“Ultimately, it was not about whether it was a Democratic or Republican idea.”

McIntyre has ridden the centrist rail on a wide array of issues, bucking his party by voting against a cap-and-trade bill to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and against repealing the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy barring openly gay service members.

This month, McIntyre voted against the bipartisan budget that was supported by most House Democrats.

His opposition to the health care law has drawn the most attention. He says local Democrats “censured” him in a news release.

It’s part of the reason he’s drawn a longshot primary challenger this time in county commissioner Jonathan Barfield, a realtor whose campaign motto is “time for a change,” and whose web site states plainly: “I am a strong supporter of the health care act.”

The 2010 redistricting by North Carolina’s Republican-held legislature tells much about McIntyre’s struggle. The GOP carved his home base of Lumberton out of the 7th district, replacing it with Republican-friendly areas. McIntyre’s winning margin dropped from a high of 91 percent of the vote in 1998 through the 70s to a winning percentage of 54 percent in the tea party-driven wave of 2010. Then came redistricting and last year’s election. It took three weeks after the polls closed for McIntyre to be declared the winner, barely.

A rematch against Rouzer looms next year. Neither candidate had raised much campaign cash through November.

McIntyre knows he’s vulnerable, however vindicated he may feel by the law’s botched rollout and Obama’s apology to the nation.

His most potent weapon is his robust constituent service, a strength acknowledged by even Burr. But McIntyre is aware he’s got many constituents in his newly drawn district who may not know him.

“I’m a centrist and I’ll continue to be a centrist,” McIntyre said. “People know my heart is in my district.”

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Long waits for aid for Technology stocks lift Sandy victims in NY and NJ the broader market DAVID B. CARUSO FRANK ELTMAN Associated Press

NEW YORK As a second New Year since Superstorm Sandy approaches, many coastal residents are still waiting for New York, New Jersey and New York City to distribute billions of federal dollars that were intended to go directly to people struggling to rebuild their homes.

Only a fraction of that money has been spent, leaving storm victims at the mercy of a frustrating maze of bureaucracy. Depending on where they live, the checks could be anywhere from days to many more months away.

“It’s enough to drive you crazy,” said Katie Fazekas, a teacher’s aide who has become so distraught over still being out of her damaged Freeport, N.Y., bungalow that she sometimes can’t get through the day without crying.

Checks could be in the mail by New Year’s Day for many storm victims, but major disparities are emerging in terms of how quickly people can expect to get help.

New York state officials say that in the past few weeks, they have sent out $88 million to 2,500 Long Island homeowners to reimburse them for repair work that wasn’t covered by insurance. The state has also asked federal officials for permission to immediately advance another $250 million to at least 3,000 more Long Islanders by Jan. 1. Those homeowners would also receive commitments for an additional $250 million, to be distributed once contractors have begun the work.

It isn’t clear whether that approval will come, but if it does, it would mean help for nearly all of the 6,000 Long Islanders who had applied for one of the state’s New York Rising grants by Nov. 6.

But in New York City, which is running its grant program independently of the state, officials say they are still plowing through 20,000 active aid applications and have distributed little of the $521 million they initially set aside for rebuilding grants to single-family-home owners and multifamily properties. The city has yet to conduct even an initial inspection of 89 percent of the homes in the “Built it Back” program. Only a handful of applicants have been able to start construction.

Deputy Mayor of Operations Cas Holloway said the program will ramp up considerably in January and February, but he said it would likely be June before the city finishes meeting with homeowners to tell them how much they will receive.

“We are doing it as fast we can do it,” Holloway said. He cited the huge number of applications — more than triple the number that came in on Long Island — and a laborious set of federal documentation and inspection requirements as the primary reasons for the delay.

New Jersey is occupying a middle ground.

Of the 12,700 homeowners who were told they qualified for rebuilding grants, 900 had finalized grants worth a combined $95 mil-

lion as of last week, state officials said.

Another 150 homeowners may get another $15 million in grants by New Year’s Day. That represents a payout rate of roughly 18 percent of the $600 million initially budgeted for the rebuilding grant program.

Thousands more New Jersey residents have been notified that an award is in the works soon, but the majority of qualified applicants — 8,200 in total — have been placed on a waiting list.

Richard Constable, New Jersey’s community affairs commissioner, says the process is not moving as quickly as the state would like, but he said it has picked up steam.

“For us, this is a success now,” he said.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended the city’s performance at an event last week, saying it has gotten help to storm victims faster than any other U.S. city hit by a major hurricane.

Even before the rebuilding grant program was created, the city used Federal Emergency Management Agency money to restore electricity, heat and running water to 12,000 damaged homes.

“We cleaned up and got people back in their homes and back on their feet faster than anybody else,” Bloomberg said. “Now, if you were hurt, you’re going to say it wasn’t fast enough, I understand that. But, we’ve done a very good job.”

Congress approved a roughly $60 billion Sandy aid bill last January, setting aside a large chunk of that money for housing rehabilitation programs.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development took several months to develop rules for implementing those programs. The states then had to build a system for awarding them. Each region’s program is slightly different. New Jersey did an initial round of $10,000 grants to residents with damaged properties who agreed to remain in the same county after the storm. That aid totaled $180 million and was distributed more quickly.

Officials in both states and the city said many of the delays in getting rebuilding grants are related to HUD requirements. All homeowners participating in the federal program have to undergo a series of inspections, environmental reviews, insurance reviews and other evaluations intended to confirm eligibility and prevent fraud or overpayments.

Jeremy Creelan, special counsel to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, likened the process to running a gauntlet. “From our perspective, these requirements are overly burdensome,” he said.

That’s something most homeowners would agree with.

Barbara vanAsselt said that she had been hoping for a New York Rising grant to repair her flooded home in Baldwin, N.Y., but was told that once the program deducted payments she had already received from her insurance company and from FEMA, she didn’t qualify for additional help.

“They awarded me zero. Zero,” she said.

“Somebody else will end up living in my house and I’ll be out on the street.”

KEN SWEET AP Markets Writer

NEW YORK Stocks rose in quiet trading Monday as investors start to close the books on 2013.

Apple helped lift technology stocks after the company reached a deal to sell the iPhone to China’s largest wireless carrier.

The market has been moving broadly higher since last Wednesday, when the Federal Reserve said it will start pulling back on its stimulus program next month as the U.S. economy improves. Last week the government also raised its estimate for thirdquarter economic growth to 4.1 percent, the fastest pace since 2011.

“Everything is going in the right direction,” said Rob Stein, chief executive officer of Chicago-based Astor Investment Management.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 73.47 points, or 0.5 percent, to 16,294.61.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up 9.67 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,827.99. The Nasdaq composite rose 44.16 points, or 1.1 percent, to 4,148.90.

Apple rose $21.07, or 4 percent, to $570.09 after the company reached a deal with China Mobile, the world’s largest cell phone provider, to sell the iPhone in the world’s most populous country. The iPhone is already sold through two smaller carriers there. Technology stocks in the S&P 500 rose 1.5 percent, more than twice as much as the broader index.

Trading was very light ahead of the Christmas holiday. Just 2.8 billion shares were traded on the New York Stock Exchange, well below the recent average of 3.4 billion.

Both the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market will be closed Wednesday for Christmas. Both exchanges will also close at 1 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday for Christmas Eve.

The market is heading for its best year in more than a decade. The S&P 500 index has increased 28 percent so far this year — 30 percent when dividends are included — putting it on track for its biggest annual gain since 1997.

“People want to hold on to these gains, so no one is going to take any undue risks this close to the end of the year,” said Stephen Carl, head equity trader at Williams Capital. The next two weeks, with Christmas and New Year’s Day both falling in the middle of the work week, will likely have light trading, he said.

In other economic news, consumer spending rose 0.5 percent in November, the most since June. Those are closely watched figures, especially leading up to the holiday season.

Retailer Jos. A. Bank rejected a $1.5 billion buyout offer from Men’s Wearhouse on Monday. The rivals have made offers to buy each other in recent months, only to be rejected by the other party. Jos. A. Bank fell 74 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $56.29 and Men’s Wearhouse fell 38 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $51.63.

Facebook rose $2.65, or 5 percent, to $57.77. The social network was added to the S&P 500 effective Monday. Fund managers who replicate indexes like the S&P 500 are required to purchase stocks in a company when it’s added.

Target fell 61 cents, or 1 percent, to $61.88 after The Wall Street Journal reported that sales fell 3 percent to 4 percent in last weekend before Christmas. Target is dealing with a massive breach of security in credit and debit card data.

Bond prices fell slightly. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.93 percent from 2.89 percent.

Gold fell $6.70, or 0.6 percent, to $1,197 an ounce. Gold has slumped 29 percent this year and is headed for its first annual loss since 2000. Traders have dumped gold as the fear that the Federal Reserve’s easy-money policies would cause inflation dissipated.

Sports 12

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2013

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Musial, Weaver, Griffith among deaths in sports FRED LIEF AP Sports Writer

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The soundtracks could not have been more different.

One was the stinging crack of the bat of yet another double in the gap and the folksy harmonica strains of some song from long ago. The other soundtrack was rough and grating — a snarling, profane, arm-flailing argument that often ended with home plate covered with dirt.

Stan Musial and Earl Weaver, men of disparate times and temperaments, died in 2013. The deaths of the two Hall of Famers, in an odd alignment of baseball’s planets, came hours apart on Jan. 19.

Musial — Stan the Man, “baseball’s perfect knight,” as a statue inscription reads — was 92 when he died at home in suburban St. Louis. Weaver, the Baltimore Orioles’ longtime manager, was 82 and on a Caribbean cruise.

They underscored a year of losses in sports: Emile Griffith and Ken Norton in boxing; Bill Sharman and Jerry Buss in basketball; Pat Summerall, on the football field and in the booth; Deacon Jones in the NFL; Ken Venturi in golf; and Michael Weiner, on baseball’s labor front.

Musial, simply put, was one of the best hitters in baseball history. With his left-handed, corkscrew stance, he played with a proficiency and elegance during a 22-year career — all with St. Louis — that lifted the entire sport.

He won seven batting titles and was the MVP three times before retiring in 1963. He led the Cardinals to three World Series crowns in the 1940s. Even the Hall of Fame was overtaken by his body of work, surrendering to the scope of his achievements by saying on his plaque that he “holds many National League records.”

“Stan will be remembered in baseball annals as one of the pillars of the game,” Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson said. “The mold broke with Stan. There will never be another like him.”

Musial played off-Broadway in St. Louis, never enjoying the mythic acclaim of Joe DiMaggio or Ted Williams. But he never seemed to mind, happy to deliver season after season, all the while busting out tunes on his harmonica or delighting in his magic tricks. The word gentleman followed him wherever he went.

“I never heard anybody say a bad word about him,” Willie Mays said. “Ever.”

Surely that was not the case with Weaver.

Opponents, umpires all had a few select words of their own for this 5-foot-6 pugnacious fighter in the dugout. But in Baltimore, where he managed for 17 seasons, a statue of him stands at Camden Yards.

“His passion for the game and the fire with which he managed will always be remembered by baseball fans everywhere,”

Orioles great Cal Ripken said.

Weaver understood what made players tick and how to coax the most out of a pitching staff. Let others bunt and move runners along; Weaver waited for the three-run homer. Baltimore went to the World Series four times under him, winning in 1970.

But the casual fan saw less of the managerial shrewdness than his nose- to-nose, hatturned-backward, foot-stomping confrontations with the men in blue. This was someone who was once ejected from both games of a doubleheader. Former umpire Don Denkinger recalls the time Weaver came to home plate before a game and said he was quitting.

“I told him that if he ever ran out of money to call the umpires’ association and we’d take up a collection for him,” Denkinger said. “We’d do anything just to keep him off the field and away from us.”

Like Musial, Griffith brought elegance to his craft. He died at 75 of pugilistic dementia.

Griffith was quick and savvy in the ring, flicking jabs and punishing opponents. One night of punishing work in 1962 would haunt Griffith for the rest of his life.

He battered Benny “The Kid” Paret on national TV to recapture his welterweight title. A comatose Paret died 10 days later.

The fight shadowed boxing for many years.

Griffith, suddenly cast in the role of villainous killer, was never the same. At times, he was afraid to leave his hotel.

Boxing was hit hard this year, losing two other champions, both heavyweights: Ken Norton, who in 1973 defeated Muhammad Ali and broke his jaw, was 70; Tommy Morrison, 44, who beat George Forman and later tested positive for HIV, but denied until his chaotic end that he had the AIDs virus.

Carl “The Truth” Williams, who lost title fights to Mike Tyson and Larry Holmes, died of cancer at 53.

The Celtics-Lakers rivalry that once defined the NBA had a unifying thread in Sharman. He teamed in the backcourt with Bob Cousy in Boston and became one of the game’s best foul shooters. He later coached the Lakers of Wilt Chamberlain and Gail Goodrich when they won 33 in a row, and as an executive presided over the team’s Showtime run.

He made it to the Hall of Fame as a player and coach and died at 87. Two footnotes: Sharman introduced the pre-game shootaround; as a baseball player, he was called up by the Dodgers in 1951 and was in the dugout when Bobby Thomson hit his mighty home run.

The Laker family also lost its patriarch in Jerry Buss, 80, the owner who gave his franchise a celebrity dazzle in a city where there is no higher calling. His team won 10 championships and became the gold standard, from the Showtime era of Magic Johnson to Kobe Bryant.

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MOVIE TIMES Aero Theatre 1328 Montana Ave. (310) 260-1528

Walking With Dinosaurs (PG) 1hr 20min 11:15am, 4:15pm

10:30am, 11:40am, 1:30pm, 2:00pm, 4:30pm, 6:30pm, 7:30pm, 8:30pm, 10:30pm

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (PG) 2hrs 34min 4:00pm, 7:00pm, 10:45pm

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12 Years a Slave (R) 2hrs 13min 11:00am, 1:30pm, 4:40pm, 8:00pm

Frozen 3D (PG) 1hr 25min 2:15pm, 8:00pm

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Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (PG-13) 2hrs 41min 10:10am, 4:50pm

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Walking With Dinosaurs 3D (PG) 1hr 20min 1:45pm, 7:00pm

Frozen (PG) 1hr 25min 11:15am, 5:10pm, 10:40pm

Saving Mr. Banks (PG-13) 2hrs 00min 10:00am, 1:30pm, 4:35pm, 7:30pm, 10:30pm

Gravity 3D (PG-13) 1hr 31min 11:45am, 2:15pm, 5:00pm, 7:45pm

Hunger Games: Catching Fire (PG-13) 2hrs 26min 12:15pm

American Hustle (R) 2hrs 09min 10:15am, 1:10pm, 4:30pm, 7:40pm, 10:00pm

Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas (PG-13) 11:00am, 2:00pm, 4:50pm, 7:30pm

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (NR) 1hr 59min

Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in HFR 3D (PG-13) 2hrs 41min 2:45pm, 9:45pm

Inside Llewyn Davis (R) 1hr 45min 1:30pm, 4:20pm, 7:10pm, 9:45pm Book Thief (PG-13) 2hrs 11min 1:00pm, 4:00pm, 7:00pm, 10:00pm Nebraska (R) 1hr 50min 1:40pm, 4:30pm, 7:20pm, 10:00pm Philomena (R) 1hr 34min 1:50pm, 4:40pm, 7:30pm, 9:55pm

For more information, e-mail editor@smdp.com

Speed Bump

LEAVE COOKIES OUT FOR SANTA, ARIES ARIES (March 21-April 19)

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

★★★ You will have your hands full, whether you are entertaining or just catching up others' news. What you are doing won't feel like fun.

Later today, you will experience a real sense of excitement as you see what is heading your way. Tonight: Leave cookies out for Santa!

★★★★ You might want to understand what is ailing you. Maybe you need to take a nap or drive around in order to relax. Call or visit with a friend. You will feel inspired and happier because of this person, who is much more into the spirit of the moment. Tonight: All smiles.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

★★★★★ You seem to have no problems solv-

★★★★ Make a point to go along with what

ing others' problems. You know that there is always a solution. A loved one could be overserious, and you might attempt to lighten up the conversation. Friends will drop by, so let spontaneity rule. Tonight: A change of pace.

others want to do. You could be overwhelmed by a last-minute request or phone call. A loved one could appear, which will make you smile from ear to ear. Tonight: Where others are.

By Dave Coverly

Strange Brew

By John Deering

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) GEMINI (May 21-June 20) the lion's share of the work. Your ability to understand what is going on is important. In the next day or two, you will try to explain this situation to someone else. Tonight: Get into the moment.

★★★★ You might want to get past a problem.

Take a stand and deal with a family member who could be overexcited. Invite a close friend over for eggnog and maybe a game of Scrabble. Tonight: Join friends, whether you're at church, caroling or maybe just visiting.

CANCER (June 21-July 22)

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

★★★★ Make calls, especially to those at a distance whom you might not be able to reach later. Your creativity tends to help others relax.

They know that you can help them handle whatever comes their way. Tonight: Go caroling. Get into the spirit of the holiday!

★★★★ You are able to express your caring in a manner in which others don't feel threatened.

Focus on a get-together with friends and loved ones. You might not be the host, but you might feel like it, since you probably will know everyone. Tonight: Listen to a friend's story.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

★★★ Your instincts will help you grasp a prob-

★★★★ A partner could come forward with a

lem and read between the lines. You have a lot to get done. Make a call to a loved one who often feels left out or lonely. A discussion could help lift this person's spirits. Tonight: Head home with anticipation. You will feel like a kid!

lot of expectations. Know that you can do only so much. Resist worrying about a friend's comment. You will hear from this person soon enough, and you'll see how you might have misunderstood his or her words.

Tonight: Swap gifts.

★★★★ Stay close to home, and you will finish

Dogs of C-Kennel

Garfield

By Mick and Mason Mastroianni

By Jim Davis

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) ★★★★ Your spark ignites other's spirit and

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)

energy. You could be surprised by what spontaneously erupts. Reach out to someone who might be depressed or sad. Realize that you can break through this person's defenses.

Tonight: Share a holiday treat with a loved one.

to want you to join them. Do not stand on ceremony, but understand that you might have to postpone a long-distance call. Tonight: Don't be alone. Be where others are.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

★★★★ At the present moment, others seem

JACQUELINE BIGAR’S STARS The stars show the kind of day you’ll have: ★★★★★Dynamic ★★ So-So ★★★★ Positive ★ Difficult ★★★ Average

This year you will have many opportunities that come from a partner or close associate. You tend to be more concerned with the big picture than with the details. Your endurance makes the difference between success and failure. If you are single, many wannabe lovers surround you. Consider what type of relationship you want. If you are attached, the two of you might decide to plan a trip to a place you have never been. The planning might be more fun than the actual trip. LIBRA knows how to push you past your limits.

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The Meaning of Lila

By John Forgetta & L.A. Rose

Puzzles & Stuff 14

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2013

We have you covered

Sudoku Fill in the blank cells using numbers 1 to 9. Each number can appear only once in each row, column, and 3x3 block. Use logic and process of elimination to solve the puzzle. The difficulty level ranges from ★ (easiest) to ★★★★★ (hardest).

MYSTERY PHOTO

Daniel Archuleta daniela@smdp.com The first person who can correctly identify where this image was captured wins a prize from the Santa Monica Daily Press. Send answers to editor@smdp.com. Send your mystery photos to editor@smdp.com to be used in future issues.

NEWS OF THE WEIRD BY

CHUCK

SHEPARD

King Features Syndicate

GETTING STARTED

SOLUTIONS TO YESTERDAY’S PUZZLE

There are many strategies to solving Sudoku. One way to begin is to examine each 3x3 grid and figure out which numbers are missing.

Then, based on the other numbers in the row and column of each blank cell, find which of the missing numbers will work. Eliminating numbers will eventually lead you to the answer.

■ Seven years ago, Michael Spann, now 29, suddenly doubled over in pain that felt like he "got hit in the head with a sledgehammer," and began crying blood. Despite consulting doctors, including two visits with extensive lab work at the venerable Cleveland Clinic, the Antioch, Tenn., man told Nashville's The Tennessean in October that he is resigned to an "idiopathic condition" -- a disease without apparent cause. Spann's main wish now is just to hold a job, in that fellow workers, and customers, tend not to react well to a man bleeding from the eyes (even though his once-daily episodes have become more sporadic). [The Tennessean, 10-17-2013] ■ The sex life of the anglerfish, according to a Wired.com interview in November with evolutionary biologist Theodore Pietsch, is as dismal as any on planet Earth. According to Wired: "Boy meets girl, boy bites girl, boy's mouth fuses to girl's body, boy lives the rest of his life attached to girl, sharing her blood and supplying her with sperm." Only 1 percent of males ever hook up with females (because the ocean floor is dark), said Pietsch. The rest starve to death as virgins. [Wired.com, 118-2013]

TODAY IN HISTORY – Apollo program: The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed 10 lunar orbits and broadcast live TV pictures that became the famous Christmas Eve Broadcast, one of the most watched programs in history.

– Charles Manson is allowed to defend himself at the Tate-LaBianca murder trial.

– Japan Airlines Flight 472, operated Douglas DC-8-53 landed at Juhu Aerodrome instead of Santacruz Airport in Bombay, India.

– District of Columbia Home Rule Act is passed, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to elect their own local government.

1968

1969 1972 buylocalsantamonica.com/ news-spotlights/

1973

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2013

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